Power Play: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

“Thieves get rich, saints get shot and God don’t answer prayers a lot” – it’s one of those great one-liners you hear in Aaron Sorkin television shows, and this one comes from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Though Power Players have faith and a healthy dose of hope, they also know that bad things happen to good people and bad people can make good things happen.

As a result, Power Players carry with them a certain amount of realism. They like the idea of a fairytale and hope that a happy ending is the outcome of any situation, but they are always prepared for the unhappy ending.

If you play the odds, there’s usually more chance of a bad guy getting rewarded than a good guy getting to the top. Because malevolence (though dying a slow death) is still the behaviour de jour of thieves – corporate and otherwise.

This is why Power Players celebrate the worthy getting rich, the saint being revered in perpetuity and God answering prayers. It’s all too rare. Or, to put it another way, hope for the best but prepare for the worst.